NEWSWIRE

Howard Officially Back With the Bullets

Juwan Howard will be returning to the Washington Bullets after his controversial contract issue was resolved by an agreement Saturday among the NBA, the players' union and the Miami Heat.

"Following the settlement between the NBA and the Miami Heat, we were informed that our contract with Juwan Howard is in full force and effect," Bullet General Manager Wes Unseld said. "We are very pleased that Juwan will wear a Bullets uniform for years to come."

Under terms of the agreement, Howard will receive the same seven-year, $100.8-million contract in Washington that he signed with Miami, according to the union.

Miami confirmed it has "agreed on a settlement in the Juwan Howard case," but had little else to say.

The NBA announced that Alonzo Mourning's seven-year, $112-million contract with the Heat, submitted to the league Saturday, has been approved, along with those of P.J. Brown and Tim Hardaway.

Track and Field

Olympic gold medalists Donovan Bailey and Marie-Jose Perec kept up the domination of their events, beating other medalists from the Atlanta Games in the Monaco Grand Prix meet.

In addition to Bailey's win in the men's 100-meter dash and Perec's victory in the women's 400, the other Olympic gold medalists to repeat were: American Allen Johnson in the 110 hurdles; Joseph Keter of Kenya in the 3,000 steeplechase; American Kenny Harrison in the triple jump; and Russia's Svetlana Masterkova in the women's 800. In the women's 100, Atlanta bronze medalist Gwen Torrence defeated gold medalist Gail Devers, 10.92 to 10.98.

In the closest thing to a world record, Daniel Komen of Kenya ran 3,000 meters in 7 minutes 25.16 seconds, .05 off the world record of 7:25.11.

Tennis

Defending champion Andre Agassi ran down everything Thomas Muster got over the net and cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 victory in the semifinals of the $2.2-million ATP Championship in Mason, Ohio. Agassi, ranked seventh in the world, advanced to the final, where he will play third-ranked Michael Chang, who defeated Thomas Enqvist, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2.

Top-seeded Monica Seles beat unseeded Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia, 6-0, 6-3, to advance to the championship match of the du Maurier Open at Montreal. The defending champion will meet the 1992 and 1994 du Maurier winner, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario of Spain, who eliminated Kimberly Po, 6-0, 6-4. They haven't met since Seles beat Sanchez Vicario in the final of the 1992 U.S. Open.

Alberto Costa won a hard-fought tiebreaker to defeat unseeded Marcelo Charpentier, 6-4, 7-6 (11-9), setting up an all-Spanish final against Felix Mantilla in the San Marino International tournament. Mantilla, seeded second, defeated fellow Spaniard Javier Sanchez, 7-5, 6-4. . . . Top-seeded Barbara Paulus of Austria advanced to the final of the Styrian Open at Maria Lankowitz, Austria, beating unseeded Stephanie De Ville of Belgium, 6-1, 7-5. In the other semifinal, Sandra Cecchini defeated Silivia Talaja of Croatia, 6-3, 6-2.

Auto Racing

Alex Zanardi broke the track record in a duel with teammate Jimmy Vasser and won his third pole position in qualifying for the Miller 200 at Lexington, Ohio.

Zanardi's fastest lap of 122.100 mph came near the end of a 30-minute qualifying session in which the old mark of 121.192 mph was shattered four times--first by Zanardi, then by Vasser, then twice more by Zanardi.

Bill Elliott, who broke his left leg in a crash April 28 at Talladega, Ala., called on SCCA Trans-Am star Dorsey Schroeder to drive his Ford Thunderbird at the Glen Winston Cup stock car race today at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

World champion Michael Schumacher earned his fourth pole position of the season for today's Hungarian Grand Prix at Budapest. On one of his last runs of the hourlong qualifying session, the German piloted his Ferrari around the 2.465-mile Hungaroring track in 1 minute, 17.129 seconds, an average speed of 114.827 mph.

Golf

Bobby Stroble shot a seven-under-par 65 to open a three-stroke lead over Bruce Summerhays with one round to play in the PGA Senior Tour's First of America Classic at Ada, Mich. Stroble's 11-under 133 total for two rounds left him four strokes ahead of defending champion Jimmy Powell and U.S. Senior Open champion Dave Stockton.

Karrie Webb birdied the last three holes, including the par-five 18th that she four-putted the previous round, to shoot 68 for the third round and take a two-stroke lead in the LPGA Ping Welch's Championship at Canton, Mass.

Kelli Kuehne of McKinney, Texas, successfully defended her title in the 96th U.S. Women's Amateur Championship, beating Colombia's Marisa Baena, 2 and 1, in the 36-hole final at Firethorn Golf Club in Lincoln, Neb.

Boxing

Germany's Dariusz Michalczewski retained his World Boxing Organization light-heavyweight title, drawing against Graciano Rocchigiani in a fight that ended after he was knocked down in the seventh round from a late blow at Hamburg, Germany.

Thailand's Sirimongkol Singmanasak knocked out Mexico's Jose Luis Bueno in the fifth round to win the vacant World Boxing Council bantamweight title at Bangkok.

A court in central Poland has waived a temporary arrest warrant and a prosecutor in Warsaw said he will not seek to arrest heavyweight Andrew Golota, a U.S. resident who faces 1990 charges of assault and robbery. Golota was disqualified for low blows against Riddick Bowe last month.

Names in the News

Marcus Bullard, last season's starting point guard at Mississippi State, could face a three-year prison sentence that would end his college basketball career. Records filed in Harrison County Circuit Court in Gulfport, Miss., state Bullard has failed to follow requirements of a probation agreement made in 1994 when he pleaded guilty to cocaine possession.